Spencer Art Reference Library Records

The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art had some form of a library almost from its opening in 1933, but the collection wasn’t very actively built until Helen Spencer made two significant donations in 1962 that aided in the formation of the library’s collections, marking the establishment of the Spencer Art Reference Library. With her gifts, along with grants from the Kress Foundation and the Charles E. Merrill Trust, the library and curatorial staff were able to create an acquisition policy and to further plan for the library. By the mid-1970s, the collection had outgrown its location in the southwest corner of the museum’s ground floor. Spencer again stepped in with funding, and construction of a new library began in July 1977; the Spencer Art Reference Library was dedicated October 5, 1978. A newly excavated basement level under the southwest corner of the Nelson-Atkins building accommodated stacks and staff workspaces, with a reading room and librarian’s office above on the ground floor. In 2007, the Spencer Art Reference Library moved to the Bloch Building, a multi-phase expansion and renovation that began in 2001 to increase the museum’s overall collection space. In 1999, the library became part of the Education Division.

Marilyn Carbonell became the Head of Library Services in 2006 and oversaw the move to the Bloch Building. She was born in Chicago, Illinois, on February 19, 1948, to parents who both immigrated from the Philippines. She obtained her undergraduate degree from Knox College in 1973 in art history. One year later she received her master’s degree in library science from Northern Illinois University, and she earned her second master’s degree in art history, in 1983, from the University of Iowa. Carbonell came to the Nelson-Atkins from the University of Missouri–Kansas City (UMKC), where she had begun her career as a reference librarian. In her 30 years at UMKC, Carbonell served as the Head of Reference, Collection Development and Public Services, retiring as Librarian Emerita IV in 2006. As Head of Library Services at the museum, she expanded library hours, services, and staff; worked with donors to build library research collections, such as the American Photography Collection and the Karen Gould Collection of Medieval Manuscripts; and developed new programs to support teaching and research in the local community. She also established the Artist Files Initiative at the museum, in which she worked with local artists to collect representative documentation of their careers for the library collection.

Timeline of Librarian/Head of Library Services:

1933-?, Josephine Chambers

1939-1942 (possibly earlier and later), Lindsay Hughes

1945, Louise Lebrecht

1945-1947, Dorothy Throm

1947-1951, Helen Ladd (first professionally-trained librarian)

1954-1956, Carol Tucker

1956-1958 or 1959, Patti Lou Kennard

1959-1963, Ann Baxter

1964-1973, Caroline P. Brennan

1973-1977, Anne Tompkins

1978-1979, Katharine Wheldon Haskins

1980 (January-June), Jane Chen (acting)

1980-1991, Stanley Hess

1992-2000, Susan Malkoff Moon

2000-2001, Jeff Weidman (acting)

2001-2004, Cynthia Barth

2006-2018, Marilyn Carbonell

2018-present, Amelia Nelson